Has Donald Trump’s arrival in power already had its first effect on the international scene? The Ukrainian head of state said he wanted to end the war with Russia by “diplomatic means” next year.
He will “ do everything » to achieve an end to the war in 2025. This is what Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcast this Saturday, November 16 on Ukrainian radio. This turnaround comes after the election of Donald Trump to the White House, which reshuffles the diplomatic cards and suggests the gradual end of American aid to Ukraine. With this in mind, the Ukrainian president says he wants to achieve peace next year by “ diplomatic means ».
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This announcement also comes in a military context that Volodymyr Zelensky himself describes as “ really complicated “, particularly on the Eastern Front where the Russian army is progressing rapidly against fewer and less and less well-armed Ukrainian troops. The debate on possible peace negotiations, long swept aside by Volodymyr Zelensky, has intensified in recent weeks against a backdrop of rapid Russian advances in the Donbass and Western procrastination on the military aid to be provided to kyiv.
The former comedian turned warlord estimated that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was trying to get out of his ” political isolation » while speaking to international leaders. But ” Putin doesn’t want peace at all », Adds his Ukrainian counterpart. For the moment, the main difficulty is the total opposition displayed by the two states: kyiv excludes the cession of the territories occupied by the Russian army, while Moscow poses it as an inevitable condition.
A multi-party negotiation
Asked about the necessary conditions for opening negotiations, Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that this would only be possible if “ Ukraine is not alone with Russia » and if it is “ forte », in a call to its Western partners.
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“If we only speak with Putin, only with a murderer, and we find ourselves in the current conditions, not reinforced by certain important elements, I think that Ukraine will lose from these negotiations”said Volodymyr Zelensky. According to him, this option would not lead to “a fair ending” of the conflict, almost three years after the start of the Russian invasion.
On the side of the Western allies, the G7 countries estimated on Saturday that Russia remained “ the only obstacle to a just and lasting peace “. Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump, who will return to the White House in January 2025, insisted that he was going to stop the conflict by “ 24 hours ”, while keeping his potential plan secret. This American ambiguity naturally pushes Volodymyr Zelensky, in great difficulty, to negotiate. Added to this is a telephone conversation on Friday between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin. A first between the Kremlin and a German leader in more than two years. This telephone interview particularly annoyed kyiv.
A war that is going global?
Volodymyr Zelensky also faces a growing force on the military field, which worries the international community, since North Korea sent around 10,000 soldiers from the peninsula, after signing a mutual defense agreement with Moscow. .
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Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, visiting Ukraine on Saturday, said North Korean participation would have an impact ” extremely significant » on the security of East Asia. An increasing globalization of the conflict worries Western leaders. Volodymyr Zelensky himself expressed to the Japanese minister his concern about a risk of “wider destabilization”.
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